AFRICA AND THE CRYPTO COMMUNITY
One of the major conversations on Crypto Twitter last week was the representation and exploitation of the African communities in the crypto space. A lot of key points were raised and I will like to address some of them and proffer possible solutions.
It is no news that Africa (which consists of 54 countries) is warming up to crypto, with leading markets in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa playing key roles in the development and adoption of cryptocurrency. However, the continent’s representation in the crypto community has been poor, with little or nothing to write about. We are mainly consumers in this industry with little or no input into its development.
There is the case of a large number of young Africans with little purchasing power wanting to get into the crypto space. What we do not have in terms of capital we make up for in numbers. However, this creates room for exploitation. For instance, one of the crypto influencers mentioned how African communities are used to push certain NFT projects with their numbers, only for these said projects to set their mint price higher than the average African can afford. This sort of exploitation is prevalent in the crypto space.
There is also the case of some of these crypto projects using charity initiatives for Africa to prop their crypto projects or give them some form of legitimacy. I have witnessed this myself and sadly, Africans have also played a role in this whitewashed image of Africa and Africans. We’ve all come across that project claiming to provide clean water for African children for millions of dollars, while in reality, these projects cost a couple of hundreds of dollars. Most projects run on the notion of saving Africa while they are exploiting and milking the narrative that Africans are poor and naive, and can contribute little to the global community.
Africa will certainly not develop through charity. What Africa and Africans need is an opportunity to thrive. This is why I am grateful for crypto projects like hive, where there are several successful Africans within the community who are not begging for aid but showing their worth and engaging with the larger crypto community. This way we can help other Africans and build projects that will add value to the hive ecosystem.
NIGERIANS IN CRYPTO
Nigeria is the largest black community in the world and can be said to be the face of crypto in Africa. Even on hive, the Nigerian community is arguably one of the largest, however, it is still bedevilled by the problems affecting the larger Nigerian communities.
The first is the negative stereotype. Most Nigerians are seen as takers and scammers. It is so bad that certain Nigerians hide their identity to thrive in the crypto space. This is the only way to avoid the negative stereotype. Yes, there are people who live up to this stereotype but it is unfair to put every Nigerian under this bracket. Nigeria doesn't even rank amongst the top ten countries when it comes to cybercrime, however, we are the face of cybercrime across the globe. The stereotype is untrue and damning.
Asides from dealing with how the world thinks about Nigeria, Nigerians have to deal with how they perceive other Nigerians. I won't lie that I have a hard time dealing with fellow Nigerians because of how highly individualistic we are as a people. This is one of the reasons we are unable to build structures and platforms that benefit us collectively. We would rather build other communities than ours and it is disheartening, to say the least.
Africans need to start holding themselves in high esteem. We are not bottom feeders. There is so much we can do in the crypto sphere and we need to live up to our potential. This is the only true way we can gain the respect we deserve. We should not let ourselves be used for propaganda that does not benefit our community. Those who truly care about contributing to the African community would have to do more than dig up well in a remote village in Nigeria. Instead, they would engage in initiatives geared towards giving Africans a competitive edge in the crypto space.
Lastly, the African community should collaborate more. It is ironic how the west sees this continent as a small village while in actuality it is a diverse group of people who barely agree on anything which needs to change for the collective good of the continent. The African community needs to work together to ensure we are not only benefactors but also contributors to this radical change in the global financial system.
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Great post ! One area where Africa could seriously benefit from crypto is in the field of remittances. At present, legacy finance companies like Western Union are like vampires, charging insane fees for a few key-presses.
El Salvador has shown the way on this; a high percentage of their GDP comes from remittances sent back to their families by workers overseas, and now they are only paying crypto gas fees instead of insane Western Union fees, it is putting money directly into the pockets of some of the poorest families.
If every African ex-pat worker did the same, it would add tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars to the amount of cash flowing into Africa. Even better, it would e earned cash without the strings attached to loans or the stigma attached to charity and grants.
Sure.. I heard Jack Dorsey saying this today on the love interview.
Those charges can add up a lot.
I agree. Here in Nigeria, remittance from Nigerians abroad accounts for a sizable portion of our GDP and I believe as we become more crypto-friendly we will eliminate the middle man( the likes of western union).
Also, we can contribute in the building of infrastructures to deepen decentralization. Tech in Africa is growing and I believe we can be investors as well in this industry.
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Very true as when I think of cyber crime I think of Nigeria as they were the ones doing the email scams back in the 90's. Going to be hard to lose that tag as they are still doing it and why trust needs to be gained form the roots up. I just don't see the world taking Africa seriously when it comes to crypto projects as there is too much risk. Africa needs to change as a continent and we know that wont happen as the leaders are as corrupt as can be. Unfortunately I understand what you are saying but this isn't going to change as the damage has already been done.
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Well, America has the highest cybercrime rate in the world, followed by China, and Germany. If they are not stereotyped for this I do not know why a country that is ranked 46th on that list should be the poster boy for cybercrime. If this is not another media engineering then I don't know what is.
I don't think the world needs to take Africa serious. Africa needs to take itself serious because the world depends on it for most of its resources.
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Yes they do rely on Africa for it's resources which are given away by corrupt politicians. There is so much going on with so much distrust amongst the various African countries. Look at what is happening in South Africa currently with the public trying to shut down all the foreigners businesses. The hatred for foreigners due to the open border policies hasn't helped due to high unemployment. Africa needs to fix itself first and stop relying on handouts to be taken seriously. The Nigerians made a bad name for themselves in the 90's regarding internet related crime and the truth is that is still around today. 5 Nigerians were arrested in Cape Town in January that made headlines for email scams and that is what people see and read.
There was an article for crime in South Africa last week which ranked crime by the nationalities. Drugs- Nigeria, Hijackings- Mozambicans and serious crimes Zimbabweans. This is how stereotyping happens. I don't think Nigeria has been media hyped for cybercrime as the crime known as 419 or fraud had a task force just for fighting it. I was involved way back in 95 helping fight this and it was that bad.
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Africa's issues can be attributed to bad leadership, which is not exclusive to Africa alone. Every country has its fair share of bad leadership. Africa, in my opinion, is still suffering from years of pillaging by the west and the systems they put in place before their (partially) departure and there is still interference in the politics of the continent. This is not to exonerate Africans from the woes of Africa, but comparing the continent to the west would be a great misrepresentation of our history and challenge as a continent.
Over 645m dollars hack was reported on axie infinity, where these crimes perpetuated by Africans? The biggest crypto scam (which is over 64billion dollars) was orchestrated by a German/Bulgarian but she did not have her nationality attached to the crime she committed. so I do find it suspect that when a crime is committed by a black person, the media is quick to label them based on their race and ethnicity. This is deliberate.
I do not understand the relevance of this information. I am not denying that cybercrime is a thing in Nigeria, I am saying it is overblown because there are over 46 countries that rank higher than Nigeria when it comes to cybercrime.
If I am going by your rationale every german is a nazi; every western country is racist because all these countries have a history of crimes against humanity and people of colour (and its impact is still felt to date). Does this make sense?
I am really not here to point fingers. My goal is to further a conversation that would help other Africans think about their place and better represent the continent and contribute to the growth of crypto sphere, not by being bottom feeders but by being contributors.
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I agree with what you are trying to do by getting more to contribute and hope it can be done. My rationale is quite the opposite of what you are saying as Nigeria has that bad a name out there. I know it must be frustrating being a Nigerian and it will take years to fix. The bad name never came about by the big scams but by millions of email scams they did against the person in the street. Everyone knew someone that got scammed and that is the problem today as people don't forget and label.
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Great post and an interesting point of view - the stereotypes definitely don't help, everyone received an e-mail from a "Nigerian prince" once in their lives 😂
Everything takes time and hopefully the process of increasing African contribution to these projects is going to shoot up!
!1UP
Yeah, they caught a Englishman using the same line to scam people.
Hopefully. There are many Nigerians/Africans doing well in the diaspora. It is only a matter of time before we replicate this success back home.
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It what we can produce that really matters.
Most Africans are consumers, we consume knowledge, consume entertainment and like you said takers..
The day we focus more on production, enhancement and supply I out there. The narrative will mostly change.
I think this is more evident in African countries who are trying to break the norm. Nigeria still stands out on the Crypto map however, we are mostly a market, not the producer.
Collaborative work.. yes. But, how about the enabling environment. That will go a long way too aid crypto development.
Thanks for the post Chief.
The Tech. We can build things too. Technology knows no boundaries. We have fintech companies like flutterwave. We can build sure infrastructure but in a decentralized way which is quite needed. We can boycott the government, get funds where it is needed and build our communities from the ground up.
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